International Conference “Rebuilding War Societies: Continuities and New Beginnings” at University of Sulaimani, October 17-21, 2016

The University of
Sulaimani, the Center for Iraq Studies at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg,
and the Felsberg Institute for Education and Research will hold a joint
conference covering a wide range of issues of rebuilding war societies. The
conference will take place at the University of Sulaimani from 17 to 21
October, 2016.

Contributions are
welcome to the topics of the seven Panels as listed below.

The organizing committee is therefore calling for papers which
address the topics of the seven Panels as listed below. Researchers from
academia, think tanks and practitioners are invited to submit the title and a
short abstract of their research paper (in English) no later than September 20th,
2016, to: peshawa.muhammed@univsul.edu.iq
Presentations shall not exceed 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for discussion. Participation
of early career scholars and postgraduate researchers is positively
encouraged.

Panel 1 - A look into history: From guerilla and warlordism to government: transforming the state, the
society, and the military.

Panel 2 - The role of universities and other higher education institutions in rebuilding post-war
societies.

Panel 3 - The legal framework: rule of law versus the consolidation of vested interests.

Panel 4 - State and society: the reestablishment of inclusive and accountable institutions.

Panel 5 - Powerful elites and the military: the economic distribution of the “war booty”

Panel 6 - Environmental depletion in war societies and the consequences of unsustainable
over-extraction of resources.

The topic of the
conference are situations of violent conflict resolution which has become part
of the every-day life reality of an increasing number of societies in the 21st
century, and ways of coping with them which produce specific survival
strategies, as well as a variety of conflict handling mechanisms. One
characteristic of the 21st century is that the boundaries between war
situations and non-peace constellations have become more and more fluent.
Whereas the prominent task of the 1990s’ post-cold war era was defined as
“Reconstruction of Post-War Societies”, the focus seems to have shifted after
2000 towards the “Reconfiguration of War Societies”: In many cases, the
rebuilding of societies has to take place in the course of an ongoing violent
conflict where violent conflict resolution does not result in a change of
system, but rather in a redistribution of power and access to resources.

The aim of the
Conference is to look critically at the core concepts, aims and strategies for
rebuilding, reconstruction and reconfiguration of war societies. As a working
basis, rebuilding is defined as an all-encompassing transformation process of
structural and societal change. Reconstruction is understood as the
rehabilitation of previously destroyed, damaged or non-functioning structural
components as well as the rehabilitation of societal cohesion. And
reconfiguration is understood as the remodeling of structures and the
redefinition of societal links within an existing system.

The main set of
questions to be addressed, are: Can we detect historical continuities leading
from the reconstruction of post-war societies towards the reconfiguration of
war societies in ongoing conflicts? Which developments in conflict coping
strategies and mechanisms of societies can be identified? How do the complex interactions between
relief, rebuilding and development activities on the one side and between local
and international actors on the other contribute to the escalation or
de-escalation of a conflict? How can pacification mechanisms such as
demobilization of combatants, the
reintegration of refugees and internally
displaced people and
the reform of
governance structures be realized
in an ongoing conflict? What role do the extraction of resources and the
destruction of the natural environment play, which long-term effects do we have
to expect? What role do the universities and other higher education
institutions play in rebuilding war societies in post-conflict and ongoing
conflict situations, and in which ways they are themselves being transformed by
wider social processes. Do existing instruments such as the setting up of democratic
institutions, and the injection of finance to rebuild the infrastructure are
sufficient and appropriate to rehabilitate societies? Do we need to redefine
intra-societal and intra-regional relations, and do we need to replace the
dominance of global solutions by more manageable bilateral North-South and/or
South-South partnerships?

Not much research
has been done concerning these economic, legal and societal dimensions of war
societies. Particularly with the conditions on the ground in Iraq and other
important countries in the region changing constantly, the conference comes
timely to discuss case studies, to analyze the current situation and to develop
approaches for a possible way forward. As the conference takes place in the
Kurdistan Region of North Iraq, one of its main objectives is to bring together
scholars from all parts of Iraq and contribute to a better understanding in
order to encourage joint efforts for rehabilitation and reconciliation.